If you’ve read this blog before, you’ll know that I’m not a cheerleader for Fredi Gonzalez. Some of his decisions frustrate me, and I’ve had difficulty identifying his great strengths.

But I just don’t understand this.

How is it the manager’s fault that a team with a $35 million payroll fails to make the playoffs? (A payroll that just happens to be roughly what the franchise receives in revenue sharing)

As I wrote in my column last week, management failed to provide what the Marlins needed to get to 90-plus wins and try to steal a playoff spot: a veteran starting pitcher who could eat up innings and rest the bullpen. You can blame Larry Beinfest for not pulling the trigger but, for me, it always goes above him.

And if Jeffrey Loria believed this was a playoff team without that reinforcement, he was delusional. The problem now is that, even if Gonzalez returns, he has been weakened by this uncertainty.

If you had to point a blame it would have to be the pitching. Except for JJ, the rest of the staff was unstable. West gave us a few games, as well as Nolasco, but Volstad, Sanchez, and the bullpen really killed us. I actually feel bitter sweet about the bullpen. Some games were brilliant and others like you want to kill them. Get a real closer and a good solid lefty for next year please!

If the Marlins hire a new manager, shouldn’t they make it clear to him that his continued employment beyond next season is conditional upon them making the playoffs? That to me would seem to be fair, if the Marlins truly believe they should have made it with this payroll (and, if Samson is to be believed, some think they could have made it with a payroll of $4000 less).

As usual, Samson’s comments were gross and tactless. I assume the 4 million he was talking about was some combination of Hermida & Andrew Miller? I agree with Ethan, if they added a starting pitcher to replace the guys who they had fill in who were mediocre or worse (John Koronka? Graham Taylor? Volstad, Miller, etc), and a legit closer to take the pressure off Nunez and Lindstrom from the start, they MAY have made the playoffs.
We’ll probably never know why Bonifacio was force fed for so long (if it was Fredi or the front office), but having basically an automatic out at the top of the lineup probably cost a few games too.
All that being said, and I am not a Fredi fan, I find it hard to believe any manager could have gotten many more victories than Fredi did this year. (Unless it was his insistance than Bonifacio stay in the lineup)

If they kept Fredi I could live with it, but if they fired him and brought in a proven commodity like Valentine it would make sense. Baseball managers are probably the least of all the major sports to actually effect the games. Fredi made his share of mistakes and I don’t think he’s a very good in-game manager. And while you could say the team won a lot of games considering their payroll, the pitchers underperformed, and most of the hitters did what you’d expect (with the exception of maybe Coughlan, but we really didn’t know what to expect with him). So while everyone likes to say Fredi did a good job with a low budget team, did he really?

They got rid of Girardi, Conine, you name it, anyone good for this franchise. They could win 165 games, and I’ll still tell you they are the worst ownership in the history of sports. Samson couldnt get a real job the little (I do mean “little: according to the unfortunate ladies) worm!

Hey Adam, When you say the pitchers underperformed, I assume you are referring to Volstad, Miller, and Sanchez. Can you explain how you know that? They all pitched poorly, obviously. Josh Johnson looked fine to me, though, and he has the same manager as those guys. How can you say they underperformed when you have not even seen a fair sample of their potential? If Hanley hit .260 this year, that would be called underperforming. Is it possible that those pitchers are just not that good?

There’s always room for improvement but this teams done a great job despite the lowest revenues in MLB. Its pathetic that S Fla fans dont come out to se batting champions or ROY candidates or Cy Young candidates. We’re lucky to have any baseball team here.

The problem wasn’t freddi, per se, but he was too passive for this young team who seemed to be yearning for passionate leader. To me, he never seemed to defend his players, or call them out for that matter (i.e. ozzie guillen). Even if he stays, pitching coach Mark Wiley and 3rd base coach Bo Porter have to go. I hold Wiley accountable for the regression of prized pitchers Andrew Miller and Chris Volstad. Sometimes tinkering with a delivery can do more harm than good (especially for 2 prospects who seemed to be well on their way). As for Porter, did any team have more baserunners thrown out at home that the Marlins?

Are you all serious?
Bobby Valentine? He of the glasses and moustache after he was ejected? You’ve got to be kidding me.
Look, Fredi has his faults, and there are a few of them. but Billy Ray Valentine from “Trading Places” is a better manager than Bobby Valentine.
Maybe the owner should get his head out of his rear and realize that you can’t scrimp by every year and hope you catch lightning in a bottle. They were a player of two away this year and he wouldn’t or couldn’t pull the trigger. The fact they won 87 games is amazing enough.

I AM IN AGREEMENT WITH THE COMMENT ON THE PITCHERS ANDREW MILLER AND CHRIS VOLSTAD, ESPECIALLY MILLER WHO WAS TOLD THAT THE WAY HE PITCHED WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH, EVEN AT ONE POINT BEFORE HE WAS SENT TO THE MINORS THE LAST TIME, ANDREW WAS YELLED AT ON THE MOUND BY WILEY. WILEY DESERVES WHAT HE GETS IF HE IS FIRED, BECAUSE YOU CANNOT BE THAT WAY TO A PRIZED PITCHER LIKE ANDREW AND TRY TO CHANGE HIS DELIVERY. NEXT YEAR IF ANDREW DOESN’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH WILEY’S COACHING HE MIGHT JUST SUCCEEED.

I hope they kick Freidi to the curb and hire Valentine. Gonzalez is just like Torberg and Boles were, all are nice guys but they seem to lack fire. Valentine is a better in-game manager than Freidi, and he will hold the players accountable…I believe he will light a fire under this team so I hope it happens

How can anyone possibly even ask how can they think of firing Fredi – he has been a disater. How many games did we lose because of his bad decisions. Players win games but managers put teams in position to win. Thanks to Fredi, that just did not happen.

HERMIDA sucks and hopefully has seen his last at-bat as a Florida Marlin. Now that that is off my chest, let’s get to the real problems.
For whatever reason Fredi played Emilio Bonifaco WAY TO MUCH. It probably was coming from the powers that be to justify the trade for him. Anyway, finally he stopped playing and this offense took off.
The starting pitchers with exception of JJ and 4-5 starts by Ricky was horrible. We can only hope Volstad, West, Miller, or Sanchez can develop into a servicable Major league starter–which is essesntially what that veteran starting pitcher Ethan spoke of would’ve been.
Anibal showed us something in September, but we’ve seen this act before.
Now finally, for Fredi. He is by no means a great manager, but he isn’t a bad one either. The problem is that being a puppet of the front office makes him do certain things that otherwise Joe Girardi would not. Looks like Loria can’t control everything, because now he’s going behind HIS GUY’S back to bring in Valentine.
I think the season was a great success, and it shows how good we can be if the back end of the rotation was just giving 6 innings and 4 runs. Which is at best servicable. But, going 4-5 innings kills the bullpen long term.
I still hold out hope and believe in our front office because THEY HAVEN’T GIVEN YOU ANY REASON NOT TOO SINCE THIR ARRIVAL.

I do not have problem with Freddy to come back as manager. He did a tremendous and wonderful job winning 87 games with that stingy and frugal payroll. For me,its the management who is to blame for not making the playoff. Those penny-pinching gentlemen suck. Bring us a decent players, of course, you have to pay top dollars for them

I’d like to think they should fire Fredi because he’s a bozo. I think Fredi would prefer the excuse to the media to be because we didn’t make the playoffs as opposed to management rattling of the laundry list of game mismanagement decisions he has made.

Its a crazy statement. Fredi did the best with a bunch of kids and well below your average Major League team’s Payroll. Im a Yankee fan, but CLEARLY it shows that its NOT Fredi’s fault. After all…prior to him, Joe Girardi had similar success in the 1 year he was manager.
Ownership here is a joke…obviously those two clowns Loria and Samson aka Stan and Oliver should not be in business of owning a ballclub.
The city of Mi-kami will be SO sorry they ever gave them that deal for the ballpark. With how the economy is, is giving millionaires stadium deals the way to go?
Kudo’s go to Fredi for a successful campaign this year and even to Larry Beinfest for assembling this team. With hands tied, I know theres only so much they can do with the little they do get!

I am not a huge Freddie fan (as a manager). However, for this team to finish 87-75 with horrible starting pitching, without a dependable and experienced closer, or a right fielder, earns Freddie kudos from me on the final result. Freddie is probably not the long term solution as manger, but firing him now would be a crock. Now if you want to shake things up and change some of the coaches (pitching and 3rd base), I might concur with that.
Should be interesting who is brought back next season. I think you can kiss Hermida goodbye (the good news), probably Uggla (questionable) and perhaps as many as two of the following: Cantu, Gload and Nick Johnson. Something tells me they will want to play (and pay) Bonaficio and Gaby Sanchez. I would hate to lose any of these guys, especially Jorge, but if they use the money saved to lock up Josh Johnson and bring in a veteral starter and closer, I might be appeased.

I have to honestly say, it’s a joke saying it’s Freddy’s fault. He’s not a great manager, but blaming him instead of the ownership for not making the playoffs is pure stupidity.
That being said, I am actually starting to lose faith in Beinfest, but more importantly the Marlins scouts. The Phillies had a ton of prospects in their system, as did the Braves. It felt like we had none to bring up except Cameron Maybin.
When you look at the Marlins farm system, except for Mike Stanton and a few others, where is the star pitching that we’ve drafted for several years.

If Fredi is the reason Bonifacio was starting and hitting at the top of our lineup for so much of the season, then I most certainly want Fredi gone. I can live with his poor decisions from time to time, but Bonifacio getting 461 ABs at the top of our lineup is unacceptable.

Anyone who doesn’t think that Fredi should be fired didn’t actually watch the games. The payroll is low, yes, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good roster. Gonzalez continually put his players in positions to fail night after night. I don’t think a great manager can improve his team much, but a terrible one sure can screw things up. And Fredi is undoubtedly terrible. Nobody who actually watched the games can deny that, and it’s only the people who never pay any attention, but simply complain about the payroll that think firing him is a poor decision.

Ben, I said they underperformed because Volstad regressed greatly from last year going from someone who rarely ever gave up HR’s to someone who was near the top of the league in that category. Miller, who was once a top pitching prospect has yet to develop the way many hoped he would. Is that his fault or the coaching staff, or both? We don’t really know that. Sanchez I won’t include because of the injuries. Johnson I won’t include either because he had a very good year. He did really fall off towards the end of the year though. IMO, though the biggest underachiever was Nolasco. He definitely had some good moments, but this was a guy who looked like he was ready to be a very good starter and was being called the ace of the staff. He obviously struggled early. After being sent down, he was better, but still not the pitcher he should have been. Overall, this was a staff being called one of the best in baseball by Bobby Cox and Peter Gammons, and after the season is now done, was really one of the weaknesses of the team. To me that is underperforming.

I guess the biggest questions, and ones that are hard to answer, revolve around who was calling the shots.
Was it Fredi or Beinfest who wanted Bonifacio playing when it was clear he was overmatched?
Was it Fredi or Beinfest who made the correct decision to throw Coghlan out there in LF?
And so on.
Those are questions we need to ask, obviously. I’m not as close to the Marlins as I am to the Dolphins or Heat or even the Panthers, but I’ll see what I can find out.

Nothing against Fredi, but I would LOVE Bobby Valentine hire as manager.
Very underrated manager during his tenure. Might be in press more than Loria likes, but very forward thinking. Look at ESPN article: http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4530651&name=olney_buster
Describes how he was on leading edge of using OBP as hitting tool (never would have left Boni in leadoff as long as Fredi did despite speed argument). Understands pitch count not just as number but also “stressful” pitches and innings (not all 100 pitch outings are the same).
Would a higher payroll been better, yes if spent correctly. But still were plenty of tools. Took way to long to start playing Coghlan ahead of Boni. Would have preferred rotating Gload and Helms into extra games (and even Caroll and DeAza) ahead of Boni and his .300 OBP.

Honestly, I thought Fredi was pretty bad.
Everyone who says it’s hard for managers to win games is absolutely right, but this guy new how to blow them. Every decision he made seemed ill timed.
When it came to Bonifacio, or other struggling batters, he let them slump for way too long.
When it came to starting pitchers, he’d always seem to pull them out arbitrarily, clearly more focused on pitch count (the worst stat ever, btw) than on watching the quality of the starters pitchers around the 6th, 7th, and 8th, or, even, asking the pitcher (or better yet, the catcher) whether or not the guy is tired. How many times did a starter give up two or three runs in the second inning and then pitch 5 more scoreless innings only to be pulled out randomly (not for a PH) in the 8th. Too many. And about 8-13 times this year, in situations exactly like that, the Marlins would have gained a lead in the middle innings but the relievers (who were brought in for no other reason than the starter’s high pitch count) would go on to blow a save.
Case in point: On the final Friday home game versus the mets, Nolasco gave up two three runs in the 2nd, but he would go on to strike out 7 batters through the next five scoreless innings.
At the top of the 8th, up 5-2, Fredi pulls his pitcher who had given up only 4 hits and 1 walk in 7 innings. What? Why? Why not let him pitch the 8th? Was he tired? I don’t know, but I don’t think so. I was at that game (my first one all season, as I don’t live in FL anymore), so I remember it quite clearly, and Nolasco was getting better each inning he was pitching.
Regardless, Donnelly comes in and a run is scored in the 8th. That sucks, but it was an unearned run and he only gave up one hit. Plus, the Marlins are still up 5-4 going into the 9th, so it isn’t the end of the world.
The 9th starts, and we know Nolasco can’t come back in, but at least Donnelly looks serviceable. So, of course, Fredi sends Nunez out to the mound. WTF?? Fredi has Donnelly penned in as a set-up guy, I guess, so he isn’t allowed to touch the 9th? Nunez. Ugh.
Oh well, maybe Nunez will step up? Nope. Nunez gives up 3 hits and walks 2 batters. Worse yet, the bases are loaded before Fredi even has another guy warming up in the bullpen? WHAT THE EFFFF.
Yeah, we end up losing 6-5. It’s like Fredi wasn’t even watching the game. He decided before it all started that Nolasco would pitch through 7, Donnelly would take 8, and Nunez would take the 9th. He completely disregards the context of each game. It’s infuriating. How many times has a pitcher taken a hot streak into the 8th or the 9th this season only to be pulled in place of some joker who blows saves like he was auditioning to play Brad Lidge in a movie?
I’m cool with firing him. I really am. I had those great seats for that Friday night game a couple of weeks ago that I described, you know the good ones that have you walking in the tunnels underneath the stadium past the dugouts and locker rooms to get to your own seats? I was so pissed off after Fredi blew that game that, when walking past the beat reporters who were waiting outside the locker room to ask questions, I yelled at them, “WHY DON’T YOU ASK FREDI WHY HE SUCKS SO MUCH?” Yeah, hardly an eviscerating barb, but it was all I could think of saying. I didn’t see you there Ethan, but I’m sure you would have relayed my querry.

I blame Loria and Bud Seilig. They were all part of a scheme to take baseball out of Montreal and profit from it. Loria was rewarded with ownership of a team he can not afford to run. People will boycott the new handout at the OB just like they are doing to GM and Chrysler.

Could the Marline have been better? Raul Ibanez wanted to play here. Miguel Cabrerra could still be here, and the players obtained for him could have not produced The pitching could have been better. None of this is Fredi Gonzales fault. As with Joe Girardi before him, this team over achieved because of Fredi Gonzales.
Too bad they can’t fire the owner.

I think everybody have mentioned the right reasons for firing and not firing Fredi, however Ethan commented on the only element that none of us as fans know, Who REALLY made the decisions? Was it really Fredi who wanted Boni even though he was a sure out or was it the front office justifying the trade. Who really made the decision of starting Koronka and Taylor?
How about this:
Who can really say that Fredi or any other manager in the league can be themselves on this team if the front office clearly wants somebody to follow their orders and probably not their instincts? I mean look at what happened to Girardi! He showed cojones, probably told them what we all have said about the payroll and the impact it makes (specially around the 31st of July when everybody is looking for playoff reinforcement) and was booted out of here. Is it going to be different if Valentine is here? Will they give him more space to say or do what he wants in order to win, or do they want another puppet? We simply don’t know. If Fredi made the decisions then the whole story is different, but again, we know what this management has done in the past.
TRAVIS, I am so with you on that last friday game against the Mets. I was also there and it hurt like crazy to see a lead go away as quickly as it did with Nolasco pitching the way he was.

yet another reason why the Marlins are the biggest joke! Why doesnt Jeff Loria just go and manage the team himself! Apparently he thinks he knows more than any of the previous managers he has had. You think missing the playoffs was bad this year, wait until next year when this team is without Uggla, Nick Johnson, Jorge Cantu, etc. They will be lucky to win 70 games next year. I can’t wait until they open there new ballpark and nobody shows up! Get the Marlins out of Florida, they already stole the Orange Bowl from us! Blow Up the plans for the new ballpark and build a new Orange Bowl instead! How does anyone actually root for this team?

I dont know much about manager salaries. What did Fredi make? What would Valentine command? I would assume the latter would be much greater. It doesnt make sense to me that a team that is always cost-conscious to the last penny would hire a big name manager.

Stan, you mentioned that Loria cannot afford to run the team. This is not true as he profits more than ANY other baseball owner. The Marlins made a profit of $43.7 million in 2008. As someone mentioned earlier, the entire salary this year was about the same amount as revenue sharing. That is ridiculous. Now personally I don’t really have a problem with the way the roster is managed. When I look back at all the trades we were initially outraged at, there arent many I would like to have back. Maybe the Cabrera trade, depending on how Maybin develops, but even still, I don’t expect a small market team like the Marlins to pay a guy like Cabrera, no matter how generous their owner is. Even still, as an owner of a baseball team just like any business, you have an obligation to the public to provide an honest product. It just isnt right to walk away with $40 million dollars when just a few of those millions perhaps could have put the team into the playoffs, giving us fans the return we are hoping for when we give this guy our money.

How about this:
Does anybody think that Fredi will move back to Atlanta once Cox is out after next season?
I mean, he lives there, he knows the organization, they like him and he’s getting pushed around here by the front office…We better do something good next year or else he’ll get fired (for having a winning season and no playoffs) and end up with one more year of experience before managing the Braves…what do you think?
BTW, I am not a Fredi advocate here. I just read something online that triggered this thought of him leaving FL to manage ATL.

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MIKE BERARDINO is still living the dream he first hatched as a young boy growing up in South Florida in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He’s writing about sports for a living. Best of all, he’s doing it in a now-crowded South Florida sports landscape teeming with talent, passion and, yes, sometimes even controversy. As the newest sports columnist at the Sun Sentinel, where he’s worked since February 1998, most recently as a Dolphins beat writer, Mike will draw on his many experiences over the years covering virtually every major sport and event. You name it, he’s been on the scene: World Series, Summer and Winter Olympics, Super Bowls, NBA Finals, NCAA Final Fours, BCS Championships, Wimbledon, the Masters, NASCAR Sprint Cup and on and on. Talk about living the dream. And now, with this new role and a daily blog forum for his many ideas and opinions, it just keeps getting better.